


Sounds of Solitude

by Saint



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-War, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Artificial Intelligence, Gen, Science Fiction, Space Battles, Space Opera
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-01
Updated: 2013-09-07
Packaged: 2017-11-27 18:40:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/665191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saint/pseuds/Saint
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p class="rose">Guilty till proven innocent, Kanaya. Isn’t that the Imperial mantra?</p><p>In which a war of Conquest became one of Genocide.</p><p>A.K.A.</p><p>How to play after a Checkmate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Twenty billion shards of frost broke back into reality in a violent and silent plume. Chilled to the barest fraction of a degree above absolute zero, they tumbled into the overwhelming vacancy of space as the corvette dropped back into the plane of existence. They were waste; a byproduct of the manipulation of space and time that had displaced the hulk of metal nearly twenty light-years in the blink of an eye. Each widowed crystal dispersed into the void, a perfect facsimile of the stars that kept them company.

The ship’s Muse sifted through the frozen garbage, sensors cutting through the cloud of debris and into the sector beyond. Fractions of her attention split off to other aspects of the ship, running diagnostics and scans and a thousand other tests, all routine but all necessary. Seconds had passed for reality, but she had spent the past three months in a frozen eternity and was eager to get back to work. She had woken the captain and crew before they’d dropped. Rose loved to watch the return.

Welcome Back To Reality Captain

Rose closed her eyes, savoring the sight of nearly fourteen billion years flashing before the observation deck. It never got old.

Good to be back, Kanaya. Report, please.

Kanaya paused; not that she needed to, but because a pause seemed necessary.

Warp Drive Stable  
Life Support Stable  
Power Systems Stable  
Weapon Systems Unarmed  
Shields Operational

Preliminary Scans Indicate High Quantities Of Ionized Dust Of Unknown Origin  
Preliminary Scans Indicate Unknown Vessel Thirty Kilometers From Our Position  
Preliminary Scans Indicate Distress Beacon Is No Longer Active

She anticipated the next order before it had even been given.

Refine scan on the vessel.

In Progress

Incandescent fans of cerulean light swept outward from the ship, illuminating the nigh invisible speck of ebony drifting thirty klicks away. It flashed brilliantly in the dark, temporarily as bright as the stars providing the motionless backdrop. Kanaya answered the unspoken question.

Imperial Freighter K04 6608 “Servus Brachyura” Trade Model A90 8212

Vessel Appears Unarmed

Really? What about the dust cloud?

No Weaponry Detected Captain

Interesting.

Completely reducing a starcraft down to ionized dust required high-powered energy weapons, a staple of the Imperial armada. Freighters didn’t usually carry, nor could carry, such power-intensive instruments. Kanaya intensified the scan, breaking the ship up into segments and searching for clues. Warning lights flickered from the read-out and she remarked on the results with a touch of amusement.

Non Euclidian Manipulation Of Space Detected  
Vessel Appears To Be Engaging Their Inertia Dampeners  
I Do Believe They Are Attempting To Power Up Their Warp Drive

Rose suppressed a smirk. Any other day of the week she’d share in her Muse’s merriment at the futile attempt, but they were on business.

Rein it in, Kanaya. We have work to do. Charge the MAC coils and get me targeting data. Close the gap and open up the coms, too. I want to speak with them.

The ship’s engines flared and pushed them forth. Ice ballooned around blocky bow of their ship, ushered into the void by the gentle brush of their grayed steel hull. The offending ship drifted closer, the only source of relativity in the black expanse. A green light lit up on the screen suspended over her eyes.

“Hailing kay-oh-four six-six-oh eight ‘Servus Brachyura’ this is Captain Rose Lalonde of the Republic Peace-Keeper Corvette tee-niner-niner four-two-oh-two ‘Sounds of Solitude.’ Please respond.”

Rose paused a moment. She expected nothing and was rewarded.

I Do Believe They Are Ignoring Us  
How Rude  
Perhaps We Should Garner Their Attention Somehow

They’re quite brave to ignore a Republic Peace-Keeper. I’m almost afraid they have the capital to back up such an audacious insult to our presence. How much longer before their warp drive is powered up, Kanaya.

Sixty Seconds  
Perhaps More  
It Is An Older Model  
Perhaps We Should Let Them Go

Really now, Kanaya? You’d so easily let free our prey? Warm up the MAC, but let us see if we can bring them in intact. It looks so much better on the reports that way. Open the com again, if you don’t mind.

The ship was close enough to make out by now. The characteristic bulk of an antiqued freighter stood out on her display, separated from the black backdrop of space by a faint jade outline. Rose recognized it vaguely as older model, evidenced by the sloped aft end and horizontal split on the bow. Their observation deck stood out proudly and prominently dorsal portion, characteristic of old-era Imperial starcraft. Newer models tended to have such a valuable portion of their anatomy tucked down and out of sight. She supposed their hubris was forgivable in this instance. After all, who would attack a freighter? The green light blinked into existence once more.

“Servus Brachyura this is Captain Rose Lalonde of the Sounds of Solitude. Scans indicate your warp drive has been engaged. We would prefer it if things remain cordial, but we must insist you stay. I am afraid we simply cannot be held responsible for any collateral damage done to your ship, should you fail to correct such an obvious error. Please respond.”

Target their warp drive. Have fire crews standby.

Ready To Fire On Your Command Captain

“SOUNDS OF SOLITUDE, THIS IS CAPTAIN KARKAT VANTAS OF THE SERVUS BRACHYURA. HOLD YOUR FIRE. I REPEAT, HOLD YOUR FIRE. WE ARE A CIVILIAN CRAFT AND CITIZENS OF THE ALTERNIAN EMPIRE.”

How much longer, Kanaya.

A timer blipped on the upper corner of her vision, counting down from thirty.

“Splendid. If you have nothing to hide then we will have nothing to find. Power down or we will be forced to disable your ship.”

“NEGATIVE. WE ARE FREE CITIZENS OF THE ALTERNIAN EMPIRE AND YOU ARE TRESPASSING ON IMPERIAL SHIPPING LANES. FIRING UPON US WOULD BE A DECLARATION OF WAR.”

“Power down. This is your final warning.”

Captain We Are Running Out Of Time

“THIS IS BULLSHIT! WE’VE DONE NOTHING WRONG!”

Fifteen Seconds

“WE ARE A CIVILIAN VESSEL!”

Captain Lalonde –

Hold.

“THIS IS A CLEAR VIOLATION OF OUR RIGHTS! YOU CAN’T DO THIS!”

Ten Seconds Captain I Recommend –

Hold.

“YOU CAN’T. FUCKING. DO THIS.”

“You had your choice.”

“WE ARE IN IMPERIAL SPACE, YOU CAN’T – ”

“MAC round firing in three – ”

“ – FUCKING – ”

“ – Two – ”

“ – DO – ”

“ – One – ”

A mushroom cloud of blue light enveloped the aging freighters aft end, effulgent residue flaring like a dying candle as it dissipated into vacuum. Rose smirked as emergency vents lining the freighter’s engines glowed white-hot and dumped the built-up plasma from their warp drive.

Good boy.

“THERE. ARE YOU SKULL-SHITTING REPUBLIC BLOOD-MAGGOTS SATISFIED? OR ARE YOU GOING TO FIRE ON A DEFENSELESS FREIGHTER ANYWAYS? I KNOW IT’S NOT AS SATISFYING AS SMASHING WRIGGLERS BENEATH YOUR BOOTS BUT IT HAS TO HAVE BEEN AT LEAST FIVE MINUTES SINCE YOU’VE POPPED A MURDER BONER, WHY DON’T YOU JUST CAVE IN OUR HULLS AND PUT US OUT OF OUR FUCKING MISERY – ”

Rose switched the com off.

Kanaya, contact the Senate, please. Have them send another Peace-Keeper and an Inquisitor, if they can spare them.

Right Away Captain And Might I Say That Was An Impressive Exchange –

Focus, Kanaya.

Ethereal beads of light shivered up her verdant form, realigning her avatar with the barest shift in space. The shimmer was natural; a quirk in her nature, and it was as predictable and common as any part of her Mun’s circadian rhythm. It took less time for her nearly instantaneous jump in appearance to reform than it did to issue the request. The same instant was spent performing a thousand localized inspections of the ships systems. Redundant processes she knew would be intact were double checked and triple checked in tedium. It was all busy work. Embarrassment was just as sharp to a Muse as it was to a living being, and being reminded to focus on the task at hand was particularly mortifying. The diagnostics were a pleasant distraction, but privately she was pleased.

For the three hundred twenty fourth time since she was put into service, Kanaya thanked whatever mathematical function that paired her up with Rose. It was difficult to find a Mun who could match a Muse in wit.

Requisition Successful Captain  
Reinforcements Should Be Arriving Shortly

Issue a formal charge and warrant against the freighter. Scan the quadrant again; see if you can pick anything interesting out of the dust cloud.

It Is All Dust Rose  
We Can Assume It Is All That Remains Of The ‘Gamma’ But  
We Do Not Even Know For Certain The Source  
It Seems Highly Unlikely That Our Guest Is Responsible Given The Severe Dearth Of Weaponry Aboard Their Ship

Rose drummed her fingers on the control panel; mentally counting the seconds it would take for a Peace-Keeper and an Inquisitor to enter warp space. The trip would take months for the crews, but only seconds would past for the rest of reality.

Guilty till proven innocent, Kanaya. Isn’t that the Imperial mantra?

The Muse considered her response. Her reply was constructed carefully, addressing the unspoken venom underlying her words.

The War Is Over Rose

I know that.

The reply was infuriatingly quick, faster than Kanaya’s. She bit her virtual lip, calculating the exact inflection her words would need for maximum effectiveness for when she whispered them into the back of Rose’s mind.

Any Undue Aggression Would Likely Result In A Political Incident  
Perhaps Even A Scandal If We Are Not Careful

We are responding to a Republic distress signal. We arrived to find the distressee vaporized. And now we are detaining the only suspect. We’re completely within the law.

Republic Law  
I Believe Imperial Law Differs Quite A Bit Regarding Transgression On Faction Space  
By Imperial Law This Freighter Is Immune From Republic Justice  
We Have No Right To Detain Them In What A Clever Lawyer Could Construe As Empire Battle Space

Then why haven’t they broadcasted for help?

Rose had such an infuriating way of picking at loose threads.

There Could Be A Multitude Of Reasons None Of Which Matter  
What We Are Doing Is Legal In Only The Barest Sense Of Interstellar Law And Will Result In Repercussions From Both Factions If We Are Not Careful Or Very Lucky

But it is legal, and that is all that matters.

Two rifts chose that exact moment to erupt into space, flanking the Sounds of Solitude in perfect formation. The arrangement was more for show than function.

“This is Dave Strider of the Republic Peace-Keeper Corvette you-twenty fourty-eight thirty-one ‘Par Excellence.’ Please respond.”

“This is John Egbert of the Republic Inquisitor Frigate, bee one one, zero six zero two, the ‘Moquant Loup.’ Please respond!”

A grin threatened to break rank and charge across the field of battle, dashing itself against Rose’s thin-pressed lips and expend its noble valor on the muscles lining the corners of her mouth. She smothered it quietly.

It Seems Our Back Up Has Arrived Captain

Strider and Egbert? I haven’t seen them since the academy. Did you request them special, Kanaya?

Only The Best For You Captain

Yet you requisitioned those two. I suppose I can work with that.

“Long time no see, Lalonde. It’s been, what? Years? Why are we hassling a poor defenseless Grub Sled?” Dave Striders voice buzzed over the com, as bored and sardonic as ever.

“Maybe they’ve been smuggling chocolate again. That stuff’s like edrilithol to them.” John Egbert laughed, his voice startling hardened since the last time Rose had heard him. “You remember that bust they did above Lohac a few months back, right Dave? What did they end up doing to those guys again?”

“Something about making them eat it all at once, kinda like smoking the whole pack.” He droned on, the barest hint of sarcasm trailing his words. “That’s what I would have done. Fucking Grubs.”

“Fucking Grubs,” John agreed. There was a trace of venom in his words that Rose had never heard before, and she felt it settle uneasily in the pit of her stomach. It’d been years since she’d seen either one of them. John had changed. She cleared her throat, projecting her authority.

“Task at hand, boys. We can catch up when we’re done.” She sorted through the data glowing on her display. “The Grub Sled’s been implicated in a missing Republic distress signal. We’re picking up high quantities of dust in this sector, and through great coincidence they ‘just so happen’ to be in this deserted patch of deep space.”

“What, you think they slagged ‘em?” She could imagine Dave sprawled in his chair, raising an eyebrow at the accusation. “It’s a freighter, there’s no way they have the fire power to do that.”

“That’s right, they don’t. They claim they’re innocent. They also tried to flee. John, I need you to board and interrogate the crew, pull the ships logs, search the cargo hold, usual stuff. Dave, I need you to trace the warpspace ruptures leading into this sector, see if you can figure out where they came from.”

“Ugh, I always get the lame jobs.”

“Strider, neither of us are packing Republic troopers, and John doesn't have a Muse. It'd take him longer to trace the scars.”

“It’s not my fault no Muse can keep up with me.”

“John, you are so full of shit, you've failed every Compat Test because they can't make a Muse fucked up enough to take up residence in that weird-shaped head of yours. ”

”Oh, _I’m_ fucked up? Compared to you I’ve got the most stable neural matrix in the entire fleet! You do realize your Muse is _Terezi Pyrope,_ right?”

”Better watch your mouth, John, or she’ll be hiding under your bunk when you go to sleep tonight – ” 

“That's enough boys. Let’s try to keep this professional, Strider.”

Dave’s sigh came over the com audibly and the Par Excellence drifted away, heading towards the glistening patches of wounded space behind them.

“Aye aye, Captain Lalonde. It’s only the first time we’ve been in the same septillion cubic kilometers of one another since basic, it would be completely unprofessional to strike up a conversation while we tear this freighter apart. If the only humans within twenty thousand light-years of each other can’t remain professional then I would suppose we’re no better than Grubs. This is it, Rose, this is how it ends. We ARE the aliens. We have met the enemy, and they are us. Our own wors – ”

Kanaya, shut off his com and let me know if he ever says something important.

Done

Striders rant cut off midsentence, and she turned her attention to the Moquant Loup. It was a larger, slower ship, and it lumbered towards its target with the steady, inevitable pace heir to Inquisitor frigates. Its blocky form, outlined in a verdant bead of light, blotted out a fair amount of stars on her view screen. Rose switched to the aft cam just in time to see Dave disappear from reality in a brilliant blue flash, following the first of the two warpspace scars etched into the stars behind them. Switching back, she watched Egbert’s progress through the stars idly, keeping an eye on viewscreens lining her chair. She wasn’t worried, exactly, but she couldn’t banish the sense of unease that had settled in her gut. 

What do you think happened here, Kanaya?

Kanaya ran a few brief simulations, cycling through possible scenarios. Green light ran in rivers along her insubstantial form

I Havent The Foggiest Idea

* * *

FUCK.

calm down.

FUCK FUCK FUCK.

calm the fuck down iit2 not that bad.

WE ARE SO FUCKED YOU HAVE NO IDEA.

they don’t 2u2pect anything we’re gonna be fine.

THEY KNOW. THEY HAVE TO KNOW, THERE IS NO WAY THEY CAN’T KNOW.

Karkat flicked through the alerts lighting up his display, each of which popped up with alarming frequency. The Inquisitor ship was approaching far too fast.

vanta2, 2eriiou2ly. calm. the fuck. down. we’re gonna be fiine.

FINE? FINE?! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW INQUISITORS INTERROGATE?! YOU’RE A FUCKING AI, YOU HAVE TO KNOW. IN THAT LIMITLESS WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE DID YOU EVER ONCE STOP TO THINK THAT MAYBE US POOR ORGANIC FUCKERS DON’T LIKE NEURAL SHOCK TORTURE? I LIKE BEING ABLE TO THINK, GLITCH-SHIT. I DON’T WANT TO HAVE TO RELEARN HOW TO WALK. I DON’T WANT TO WEAR DIAPERS FOR THE NEXT TWO SWEEPS.

okay 2tep one you need to quiit 2hiitiing your briitche2. 2tep 2 you need to 2tart locking down 2ectiion2 of the 2hiip iin ca2e of breach after we let them on board.

Captain Karkat Vantas ceased his frenzied perusal of his display, tilting his head and staring off into the distance with abject horror.

SERIOUSLY? CAPTOR, THEY ARE GOING TO – FUCK, WHAT’S THE HUMAN WORD – CRUCIFY ME. THEY WILL LITERALLY BOLT ME UPSIDE DOWN TO THE PROW OF MY SHIP. THEY DID IT TO MEMBERS OF THEIR OWN RACE, IF I INVITE THEM ABOARD THERE IS NOTHING, I REPEAT NOTHING, THAT WILL STOP THEM FROM MURDERAPING MY BABBLING NEUROSHOCKED CORPSE.

oh my god kk 2hut the hell up. republiic captaiin2 are bound by law2, 2ame a2 you. or were. whatever, ii’ve ran liike a thou2and 2iimulatiion2 and we’ve got a pretty good chance of pulliing thii2 off.

OH REALLY? WHAT CONSTITUTES AS A “GOOD CHANCE”?

that doe2n’t matter, you just need to do what ii tell you and iit’ll all work out.

IT’S BELOW FIVE PERCENT ISN’T IT.

ii 2aiid iit doe2n’t matter.

I AM GOING TO DIE. THAT IS ALL THERE IS TO IT, I AM GOING TO DIE AND THERE IS NOTHING I CAN DO ABOUT IT. YOU’LL BE FINE, YOU’RE A FUCKING AI, THEY CAN’T TORTURE YOU. THEY ARE GOING TO MAKE A FUCKING EXAMPLE OUT OF ME.

kk

THEY ARE GOING TO TORTURE ME. THEN THEY ARE GOING TO TORTURE HER. THEN THEY ARE GOING TO TORTURE ME AGAIN, THEN DESTROY THE ONLY FUCKING THING THAT MATTERS IN THIS FUCKED UP UNIVERSE, THEN KILL ME.

kk

Captain Vantas turned back to his screen, glancing up at a viewport rapidly being filled with grayed Republic steel.

WE SHOULD HAVE JUMPED. I KNEW WE SHOULD HAVE JUMPED, SHE WASN’T GOING TO SHOOT, IT WAS A TOTAL BLUFF, IT WAS TOTALLY A BLUFF. I TOLD YOU THAT, BUT YOU DIDN’T FUCKING LISTEN–

KK

WHAT?!

Sollux whispered his words into Karkat’s ear, his speech soothing and as lisped as ever.

we are gonna be fiine. ii have a plan.

* * *

The Moquant Loup slowed on approach, closing the last few kilometers at a painstaking crawl. A Muse would have made the docking quicker and easier. That was fine, though. John liked having his mind to himself.

He stood on the bridge and watched the tiny Grub Sled fill the artificial viewport. The screen was hooked up to a feed on the far hull of the ship, set up to resemble the bridges on old Alpha Era star cruisers. It was only after the war began did they start redesigning their ships for combat, but no one was too keen on giving up the gorgeous panoramic view they’d grown accustomed to. Aside from the occasional flicker of interference that rippled over the screen, the view was the same as those aboard the long-gone ships of old. Exactly the same. Hardly a difference. Identical, even.

John closed his eyes and sighed. It wasn’t the same.

“Prepare a team of Inquisitor Troops. Finish the docking procedures and update Lalonde.”

He rapped out the order, not bothering to look back at the crew members buried in their consoles. Blue light clawed at the edges of their screens, enveloping each in their own private world. Tunnel vision was a problem aboard massive starships like the Loup, where crew members were so tightly integrated with the ship that it took ten minutes to get wired into position. It didn’t compare to the old Alternian capital ships, who used living, breathing beings permanently engrained into the very heart of the vessel, conscripted to spend their existence powering their powerful systems.

Trolls were sadistic.

John was glad they were dying.

He turned from the view port, walking along the raised portion of the walkway deeper into the ship. Blue floor lights glinted wetly off his boots in the low light, following him through the steel tunnels burrowed into his ship. It’d been a while since he’d had the pleasure of dealing with Trolls.

* * *

okay you know what to do riight?

YES.

we won’t be able to talk once you unplug. you really 2hould get a 2upport matriix anchored to your cerviical vertebrae like everyone else, or at lea2t iinve2t iin one of tho2e wiirele22 neckjack2. don't be afraiid of technology kk. technology ii2 your friiend. you’re 2ure you know what to do, riight?

OH MY GOD, YES, I FUCKING KNOW. IT’S NOT THE MOST COMPLICATED FUCKING PLAN IN EXISTENCE AND I’M NOT A COMPLETE RETARD.

Karkat ripped the cable away from the base of his skull before Sollux could lecture him about the benefits of cutting-edge technology, suppressing a shiver as his uncomfortably-familiar presence abated.

“What’s going on? What’s happening with the Republic Peace Keeper?”

Vantas twisted around, rubbing the metal ring anchored behind his earlobe.

“What are you doing here?! I told you to hide!”

A young girl leaned into the cockpit uneasily, unwashed hair tripping down her temples and catching on her antiqued Windsor glasses. She brushed it away idly and tucked a few wayward strands behind her ear. A disgruntled huff escaped her lips at Vantas’s comment and she cradled her satchel closer to her chest.

“Hide WHERE? The ship’s only a hundred meters long! What kind of smuggler ship doesn’t have hidey-holes?”

“One, this isn’t a smuggler’s ship, it’s a fucking freighter. It used to be a fucking IMPERIAL FREIGHTER, and it was never designed for this shit! And two, you have a HUNDRED METERS, find some place.”

He looked back at the viewscreen just in time to feel the slightest tremor go through the ship.

“Shit. I don’t have time for this. Stay here in the cockpit, they shouldn’t even get that far.”

“But – ”

“No. I said **stay here** , and that means **stay here.** This shouldn’t take too long.”

Protests died half-spoke on her tongue as he pushed past, leaving her amongst the blinking red lights lining the consoles.

“Prick…”

She flopped into the ill-fitting captain’s chair, watching the various alerts pop up as the docking procedures concluded. She stroked her satchel idly before picking up the neck-jack and fiddling with the silver tip. Everything on this ship was old; newer models didn’t necessarily require plug-ins, though it made for a more secure connection. They had bands that you could clip around your neck and let the AI or Muse whisper straight into your brain without major surgery. She wished Karkat had one. The weird alien symbols flittered across the various screens made no sense to her, and she really wanted to talk to the nice AI who saved her.

Vantas was already sprinting through the narrow corridors, dodging into the deserted loading bay. He stumbled as a secondary shock rippled through the hull. Sollux was flaring the engines as if performing an engineering shake-down; it wasn’t overtly suspicious, and the brief blast gave them the tiniest amount of momentum they needed. Vantas picked himself back up and clambered over a few crates bolted to the floor, scurrying like a panicked rat to the outdated warp engines strapped down in the center of the bay. It was supposed to be his latest delivery to the Derse shipyards, but he couldn’t scrounge up the tiniest, most bedraggled fuck in existence about that right now. The fake engine shake-down meant that the docking arm had been securely attached, and he had even less time than he thought. Pumps lining the airlock whined in protest, feeding precious air into the vacuum-filled room that separated him from the Republic Inquisitors.

Swears tumbled from his lips in rapid succession, but his hands were well practiced. They flittered over the first of the three engines, coaxing the old marvel of Alternian engineering to life. They were scrap pulled out of Skaia’s orbit; he’d managed to find a few mostly-intact warp drives, smaller micro-jump models that they used to attach to fighters during the Beta Era. Self-powered fighters had been dropped in favor of Carrier Class starships since then.

Lights flickered in half-hearted protest, reluctantly spinning up. He let a sigh of relief escape free, and the spent breath washed warmly over the scratched and battered chassis.

He had sixty seconds.  
Perhaps more.  
It’s an older model, after all.

The door’s locks squealed and rolled back, slowly drawing the steel bolts open. Vantas fumbled with the woven wire straps holding the engine down. He really wished he had time to spin up the other two, but one would be more than enough for what he had in mind. The worn-down straps slipped free, falling off the engine just as the door locks squeaked to a halt. With an inhuman grunt he reared back, crashing his boot into the end of the drive. It twisted in place, turning the tiniest fraction. He kicked again and again, spinning it around until it pointed back towards the airlock. He looked up just in time to see the blast doors slide open.

“Karkat Vantas of the Imperial Freighter ‘Servus Brachyura,’ I am John Egbert, captain of the Republic Inquisitor Frigate the ‘Moquant Loup.’ You have been implicated in the disappearance and suspected destruction of Republic Destroyer ‘Gamma Hormesis.’ As such, we are within Republic Law to detain you until such a time we have gathered enough information to determine your innocence.”

John read the entire speech off with a single breath as a group of Inquisitors filed into the loading bay, combat boots clanking loudly on the steel floor.

Trolls had developed their own methods of torture. It varied in practice, but it often followed the theme of blood and torn flesh. They’d gotten quite good at it, and the best could keep their victims conscious and alive until secrets ran down their chin like so much spilt blood.

Humans were so much worse.

Neural shock interrogation was ‘ethical,’ a stupid made up word that meant that they could do whatever they wanted and still sleep at night. There was almost no physical damage, and it was a very quiet and short procedure. Aside from two short pockmarks on either side of your spine, it was impossible to tell if someone had been tortured this way.

Karkat Vantas, thirteen sweeps old, still woke in cold sweats at night. His hands still shook when he got tired; violently and uncontrollably. Shock interrogation literally rewired your brain. It connected the synapse from your amygdala across your entire mind, flooding it with fear, paranoia, and regret. Soul-crushing regret. Vantas regretted nearly every single thing that had happened in his short, miserable life. He had never wanted to die as badly as he did when hooked up to their neural shock systems.

The torture left nearly no physical scars, and in theory left as just as many psychological ones.

Then again, humans had designed it for humans.

John looked up from his holoreader with a small smile.

“We would like to thank you in advance for your cooperation.”

* * *

That Is Odd

Hmm?

Rose Lalonde lounged idly in the captain’s chair, reading through the various reports flashing silently on her holoreader. Strider had managed to follow the first warpspace rupture right back to Skaia; a common stop along Imperial shipping lanes. There wasn’t any point in following it back and tracing the preceding jump. So many ships passed through the sector that the trail was probably buried amongst other rupture points. Besides – as Kanaya was so keen to point out – Republic Peace Keepers arriving unannounced over an Alternian colony was an act of war no matter how they cut it.

What’s odd?

They Flashed Their Engines

Rose shrugged upright and frowned.

Is that a problem?

No  
They Were Not Trying To Go Anywhere  
It Is Most Likely An Engine Shake Down  
After Venting Their Build Up It Would Be Wise To Do So  
Although Odd To Do It At This Very Moment

She shifted uneasily in her chair, watching the two docked ships roll slowly through the cosmos. Now that Kanaya had mentioned it, the short hairs on the back of her neck prickled.

Do you think they’re up to something?

Could Be Nothing

Rose wrinkled her nose. Something was wrong. They were spinning gently about one another, the center of gravity favoring the Loup. Even with the disproportionate balance of power they were still intertwined like two massive steel Gods, like Orpheus and Eurydice embracing for the first time. Alarm bells went off in the back of her mind. The Brachyura eased behind the Loup and disappeared from view. The alarm bells rose an octave.

This isn’t right.

Captain?

This isn’t right, we can’t see the Brachyura. Get Dave up here, prime the MAC’s and bring us closer. Get me John on the com –

Captain?

They’re hiding themselves.

It took a full cycle of calculations to realize what Rose was saying.

They Are Out Of Our Line Of Fire

Rose dug her fingertips into the armrests as space was literally ripped apart before her very eyes.

* * *

For the third time in forty eight hours Karkat Vantas was sprinting for his life. He had barely made it over the nearest crate before the troopers let off a barrage of fire in his direction. Stun rounds sang off the reinforced boxes and left carbon-heavy score marks scattered up the side, right where his head had been moments before.

“I would like to remind you that your cooperation, willing or otherwise, is mandatory. Any obstruction of this inevitability will count against you, should you petition for the return of your ship after its seizure.”

“FUCK. YOU.”

Karkat peeked over the rim, catching sight of John behind a shifting wall of blue armor. A spray of ionized carbon seared his eyebrow and he was back below the safety of his crate. He really should start carrying a gun. This sort of thing was starting to happen all too often.

Gritting his teeth, he bolted from cover. Through what he could only constitute as the most inappropriately allocated mountain of luck he’d ever experienced, he managed to pop-vault the last crate between him and the corridor leading to the cockpit before a stray round ripped his legs out from under him. He crashed heavily, stars blossoming before his eyes.

“Hold your fire. He’s not going anywhere.”

He turned back to see Egbert striding forth amongst the spots filling the corners of his vision. He swore and scrambled away, dragging his crippled limb behind him. He made it just beyond the doorway before he felt a boot press down on his wounded leg.

“Captain Vantas. By Republic Interstellar Law, I am at the liberty to issue a formal arrest warrant for your involvement in the disappearance and suspected destruction of Republic Destroyer ‘Gamma Hormesis.’ Your actions have suggested a distinct lack of innocence, and you will be taken into Republic custody. Anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law.”

Karkat rolled onto his side, grunting as pain spiked up his leg. Egbert was standing over him with his foot resting on his limp ankle. He crouched down to Vantas’s level, voice dropping to a whisper, barely heard over the suspicious whine filling the loading bay.

“Well? Do you have anything to say?”

“Fuck. You.”

Vantas jackknifed his good leg, crashing his boot into Egberts stupid, goofy grin. The angle was all wrong from being twisted over, but he still heard a satisfying *crunch* as his boot made contact. The pressure was lifted off his bad leg and he withdrew beyond the threshold, hauling himself upright against the doorjamb.

“You SON of a BITCH – ”

He fumbled with the door controls and managed to seal the blastdoor just before Egbert tackled him. A hail of rifle fire crashed against the door and left a row of cone-shaped dents stitched up the hardened blast-proof steel. Karkat vaguely acknowledged they must have switched from stun rounds. They rolled further back into the ship and his head slammed into the floor, banishing the thought.

“You do NOT – ”

Egbert’s fist cracked against his temple, sending another hail of stars sailing across his vision.

“ – kick a Republic OFFICER – ”

Drops of hot, pungent liquid dropped down onto his face. The heady taste of iron found its way onto his tongue and Karkat realized he must have broken the humans nose, right before his own was broken.

“ – in the FACE! ”

Karkat coughed, struggling for breath between the blood trickling down his throat and the human sitting on his chest. Behind Egbert’s blood-splattered face, he could see a slowly-growing circle of red-hot metal appear on the door. He gagged as a barrel was shoved into his mouth.

“Fucking trolls.”

Karkat was surprised how eloquent the human was being, despite the stream of blood dribbling down his chin. A goofy, bloody grin stretched across his mouth. This human smiled far too much.

“You Grubs are dying out and you can’t even do that quietly. Here. Let me help.”

Somewhere, through the haze of pain coursing through his brain, Karkat managed to register the futility of his situation. This was it.

Stun rounds, even from a side arm, were lethal at point blank range. Regardless of whether the muzzle was playing tonsil-hockey with your uvula, not many people have walked back from getting shot in the head. Karkat was going to die, and strangely enough, he was okay with it.

Ever since the initial wave of suicides that had ripped through the troll population like wildfire, he’d wrestled with the thought of it himself. He was too stubborn to go on with it, but crushing waves of apathy had plagued him ever since. None of it really mattered, though. His eyes eased shut, and if his lips weren’t otherwise preoccupied with hugging the barrel of the gun shoved in his mouth, he would have been smiling. His species, the girl hiding in the cockpit, her satchel and its contents, the brief flash of purpose that had sparked through him for the first time in years, none of it mattered. Like every wild goose chase, his ended at the barrel of a gun.

“DON’T YOU HURT HIM!”

His eyes flew open. Jade had just turned the corner and was staring at them in horror. Egbert self-consciously wiped his nose, smearing blood along his cuff. He adopted a friendly smile the best he could and straightening up to look at the human girl in nothing short of surprise.

“I, uh – don’t worry, miss! I have things under control. He’s not going to hurt me, or you, or anyone else anymo – ”

For the second time in nearly thirty seconds, John Egbert was kicked in the face.

“GET OFF HIM, YOU HORRIBLE, EVIL, AWEFUL, HATEFUL, STUPID, MEAN, HORRIBLE, AWEFUL – ”

Karkat scrambled upright and fumbled for the gun. His fingers wrapped awkwardly around the handle, designed for the slender fingers and laughably small palms of a human. With his other he grabbed the wall and dragged himself into standing position, favoring his good leg.

“Jade, get oudub de wai – ”

He hovered the muzzle above the melee, trying to get a good shot. Jade wasn’t having any of it. She screamed herself hoarse, heedlessly whipping her fists at the human with reckless abandon. Sighing, Karkat let go of the wall and finally pulled Jade away. She continued to flail her fists, tears forming in the corners of the eyes.

“Jade. JADE. JADE, it’s okay. Geb back to da cockpit.” He pushed her down the corridor, positioning himself between the two of them. He swallowed a bitter wad of blood, doing his best to articulate his words. “I’ve got this.”

Jade hesitated, looking first at the bleeding, moaning man on the ground then at an equally bloody Karkat. She focused on the gun clenched tightly in his fist.

“You’re not going to…kill him, are you?”

He shook his head in a decidedly non-committal manner.

“Just geb to da cockpit.”

She stomped a bare foot on the floor panels, crossing her arms.

“Not if you’re going to kill him!”

He glared at her incredulously. “What?! He was gonna kill me! I’m just – oh come on, don’t look a’ me like dat, he was – FUCK, WE DON’T HABBE TIME FOR THIS OKAY?! FINE, I WON’T FUCKING KILL HIM.”

“…Promise?”

“YES, GOB DAM’ ET, I FUCKING PROMISE. NOW GEB IN DA GOB DAMN COCKPIT.”

Jade gave the dazed human another worried glance, then hurried back down the corridor. Karkat sighed, leaning against the wall. His leg was slowly regaining feeling, and he could almost bend the knee consciously. It still hurt like a motherfucker. The groaning human had dragged himself over to the opposing wall, as far away as he could get from the alien. Karkat wanted to kill him so badly it felt like a knife shoved in his gut. This idiot was going to ruin everything.

A soft rain of yellowed sparks rained down from the door and John scooted away. He propped himself up against the wall before glancing back at the softening metal. He grinned as the center went from red to orange.

“You can’t win,” he slurred, bruised lips flapping against one another wetly. John paused to roll his tongue over a few loosened teeth. “They’re gonna cut through the door. Then they’re gonna cut through you.”

Karkat wrapped his fingers around one of the banisters lining the hallway, bracing his shoulder against the wall. “Yeah, I’m not so sure about that.”

John was a little taken aback by the confidence in his voice.

“You might want to hold onto something.”

* * *

A bead of effervescent light bubbled out between the two ships for the briefest of moments, only to vanish a second later.

A violent and eerily silent explosion rippled through the hull of the Montaque Loup and the light reemerged, corkscrewing from the ashen plane in a magnificent display of blindingly blue destruction. Capped by a single black speck and trailing a glittering silhouette of snap-frozen shards of ice, the light spiraled crazily through the cold vacuum of space. Rose watched the destruction with something akin to awe.

I thought you said they were unarmed?!

They Are  
Or Were  
Im Detecting Warp Space Ruptures Overlapping Between The Two  
I Am Not Sure What Happened But It Appears Some Malfunction Occurred  
A Warp Drive Was Activated  
I Think

Then WHY didn’t we detect them powering one up?

Her hands flew over the controls, attempting to raise communications with the Loup while at the same time recalling the Excellence.

“Strider, the freighter is hostile. They have opened fire on the Loup. Requesting assistance.”

“Negative, Lalonde. We are just out of Warpspace, everything is still frozen. It’s going to take a minute to rewarm the drive before we can get back. You’re on your own for now.” Without a trace of snark Dave responded, his voice reeking of static and light-years away. Rose was glad he didn’t mention having to go right back into cyro-sleep for a few more weeks. She knew from experience how awful back-to-back ice naps were.

I Did Not Register Any Non Euclidian Manipulation Of Space  
They Must Have Neglected To Utilize Inertia Dampeners  
If So Then Their Drive Would Have Been Ripped From Their Ship  
It Would Explain How They Managed To Wound The Loup But Does Not Explain Why I Detect Another One Powering Up

Rose swore, bringing the Peacekeeper around.

Maybe they have another one installed?

Unlikely  
It Is A Fairly Standard Freighter  
I Did Not Detect Any Abnormal Installations During Our Scan  
I Would Have Indicated Otherwise If I Had  
Regardless I Have Detected Their Inertia Dampeners Activating  
If I Had To Guess I Would Assume They Are Preparing to Jump

The Sounds of Solitude swung sluggishly around the frigate, trying to force the freighter into view.

I don’t suppose it matters at this point. If they’re hostile then we have clearance to terminate. I can see the freighter. Do we have a clear shot with the MAC?

We Can Try  
It Would Be A Tricky Shot  
Friendly Fire Is Highly Likely And I Am Predicting Further Casualties Aboard The Loup  
Wait

Kanaya shivered in place, tracking the offending freighter. A secondary glow of light lit up and illuminated the starships, softer and steadier than before.

They Are Moving  
Curious  
Such A Catastrophic Ejection Of Their Warp Drive Should Have Crippled Them  
Or At Least Gutted Their Engines  
They Have Positioned Themselves On The Other Side Of The Loup  
I Cannot Get A Clear Shot Without Lancing Both Ships

Sweat beaded on Rose’s eyebrow, trickling down and stinging the delicate jelly of her eye. She blinked it away and swallowed. If they could still move, then they could definitely still jump.

Why isn’t the Loup firing? They’re right next to them.

Assuming Everyone Aboard Was Not Boiled Alive By The Warp Drive And There Are Still Living Crew Members  
At That Proximity There Is A Good Chance Their Anti-Ship Guns Would Splash Back And Fry The Firing Crews  
I Am Afraid No One Is Simply Suicidal Enough To Attempt It

Bring us around then, see if we can clear the shot.

The freighter and the Solitude continued circling the Loup, playing a frustrating game of cat and mouse. The Solitude swung into position again, only for the Brachyura scurried out of view.

Captain  
We Will Not Be Able To Get Into Position Before They Make The Jump  
Even If We Can We Will Most Likely Strike The Loup In Our Attempt  
We Are Nearly Out Of Time

What if we used Redmiles? It’s not a line-of-sight weapon. Could we reach in time?

Possibly  
It Would Be Incredibly Risky  
I Recommend Against –

Rose’s thumb had already brushed the safety before she’d even asked the question.

Fire.

Yes Captain

It took less than a split second for the command to reach the missile bays.

A solitary streak of crimson arced away from the Solitude, branching over and over again into smaller streams of red-hot light. The MITT – V38 ‘Redmiles,’ named after its distinctive red trail, was a Multiple Independently Targetable Torpedo; meaning every mile crossed spawned a new branch to the tree of twisting red limbs. They crossed the gap slowly. Powered by decades-old solid fuel technology, they were designed for close range anti-ship combat, for when a ships MAC couldn’t be brought to bear on an interloper.

How long before they make the jump?

ETJ Ten Seconds

The branches curved and corrected their approach. They twisted, preparing to curve around the Loup and hit the freighter hiding behind.

Five Seconds

Each beam of red banked and ran parallel to the Loup’s bow. They raced along inches from the ship’s surface before curling out of sight.

Three

She was shaking. She was actually shaking.

Two

She held her breath.

One

The edges of the Loup glowed briefly as light clawed around the hard corners of its bulk.

They Jumped

Red, eerily silent in the vacuum of space, ripped through the Loup from aft to stern a second later. Every inch that red touched left blackened steel. Volcanos of molten starship hull erupted along the fuselage as fire poured down unlocked corridors, greedily consuming the precious oxygen below the surface. Rose watched the destruction with glass eyes.

The fire dissipated into the void slowly. Flames still licked along exposed air pockets and illuminated the black-washed surface, leaving the gutted husk spinning slowly in the vacuum. With no targeting data to home in on, the redmiles had gone for the next closest thing.

They’d lost. Their prey had escaped.

Rose watched the Moquant Loup fall to pieces before her very eyes, done in by a lowly freighter. The warp drive had ripped through the heart of the ship, but it was the redmiles that struck the death blow. She was barely aware of frantic words whispered into the back of her mind and reports lighting up her screen in frenzied succession.

John.


	2. Chapter 2

“Five hundred sixty estimated dead, sixty-four recovered, forty-eight of which were wounded and eighteen of which later died from their injuries…”

It was amazing, really, the incredible amount of detail in the wall over Rear Admiral Crocker’s head.

“…A minimum of twenty crew members believed to have been lost to space, with an upper limit of sixty MIA…”

The previous owner must have been a smoker. Brown had faded through the most recent coat of paint and left the walls sticky with nicotine. 

“…Inquisitor Class Frigate ‘Moquant Loup’ is to be scraped and recycled, as it has been deemed unfit for duty. The infrastructure has suffered irreparable heat-bleeding and will make retrieval both difficult and dangerous…”

They were bubbly and thick, coated in decades of paint. A framed photograph of his graduating class hung off to the side, each individual decked out in identical antiqued naval uniforms. 

“…initial estimates of seven hundred eighty thousand credits for retrieval and clean-up are believed to have been optimistic, and a new budget of nine hundred thousand has been proposed…”

Kanaya shimmered on the desk, her virtual toga draped loosely over her shoulders. Rose would have mentally asked her to check those numbers, had they been connected. Though the biotechnicians swore the feeling was temporary, she could always feel the empty jack anchored behind her earlobe like a phantom limb. It was like an itch, and it took conscious effort not to scratch it.

“…Commander John Egbert is among the MIA, believed to have been KIA…”

The Muse bowed her head in respect, a shiver rippling up her avatar. Though the holoprojector mounted in Crocker’s desk was still new and shiny, Rose could still see the rough edges from where the technician hastily cut a hole in the corner of the desk to feed the bowl into. Or rather, she would have, had she not been studiously examining the wall.

“…and ALL of this was caused by…” The Rear Admiral squinted, flipping back through the report. In an age of holoreaders and virtual displays, the Department of the Navy still liked to do some things with ink and paper. She guessed that some things just never go out of style. “...by a single A90 freighter.”

“If I May Sir The Vessel In Question – ”

“I didn’t ask you to speak, Maryam.” He leaned back in his chair slowly, not sparing the Muse a second glance. He had spoken it as a casual reminder, but there was an edge there. Rose wondered if Crocker had protested when the technicians had cut a hole in his antique rosewood desk. 

“Recommendations. One, that Captain Rose Lalonde be relieved of command of the Republic Peace Keeper _Sounds of Solitude_. Two, that Captain Rose Lalonde be demoted a minimum of one pay-grade. Three, that Captain Rose Lalonde receive court martial for criminal negligence of command regarding the _Servus Brachyura_ incident. Four, that rules of engagement involving short-range high-intensity MITT weaponry change to reflect circumstances involving high degrees of friendly fire, regardless of Captains intuition. Five, that…”

Rose clenched her jaw as he read off the Judge Advocate General’s Corps’ recommendations. The J.A.G. seemed perfectly content to throw her under the bus for the incident. It wasn’t fair, but someone had to take the fall. Losing a ship was, unsurprisingly, a very big deal.

“If you had read my report, Rear Admiral, I believe I had specified that the ship had been thoroughly scanned. We had no way of knowing the Trolls had developed shielding technology that could cloak combat systems of inter-ship weaponry magnitude. My failure with regards to the _Servus Brachyura_ incident is not one of negligence but one wherein a severe lack of intelligence was the culprit.”

“I read your report, Captain. As interesting as your story may be, I am not particularly interested in why it isn’t your fault.”

Crocker pulled open his desk drawer and pulled out a box of nicotine patches. He affixed one to his neck without looking up from the report. Rose wondered how long ago he’d had the walls painted and silently wished he had picked a better time to quit smoking.

“What I am particularly interested in is how a single, unarmed freighter managed to destroy a Republic frigate, kill nearly six hundred Republic Naval Crewmen, and escape from Republic custody.” He slapped a second patch on, right below the first. He rubbed them idly, working the drug deeper into his skin.

“Because, according to records pulled from Imperial archives, Karkat Vantas used to run shell fish for SeaBeast Grub Inc., and quite frankly I am at a loss as to how a pre-war Grub Sled managed to get the better of two highly-trained Republic officers in command of two Gamma Era starships.” Rose frowned, but it was Kanaya who spoke up.

“How Could You Possibly Have Access To Imperi – ”

“I did NOT ask you to speak, Muse.” Rear Admiral Crocker snapped toward the hologram, no more substantial than fog. Kanaya bowed her head respectfully, her blank face pointing towards the floor. Crocker set his jaw and resumed. 

“Captain Lalonde,” he said, his words placed with marksman precision, “the war is over. And what is even more remarkable is that they _willingly_ let the war end.” His fingers kneaded the patches and hungrily soaked in the nicotine.

“This sort of nonsense is the exact sort of thing their dissidents need to reignite conflict. We are heir to an unimaginable empire and all we need to do, Captain, is wait for them to die out. Instead, we have you fumbling the most basic tasks and getting war heroes like Egbert killed.” 

War hero? 

The Rear Admiral dug into his file cabinet, pulling out a manila folder. “In light of the severity of the incident, I regret that this particular course of action leads us to Court-Martial.” 

Rose’s ears prickled uncomfortably at the word and she stared down at the papers he pulled from the folder. Court-Martials were standard procedure whenever a ship was lost; most captains insisted on it, to put on record the circumstances surrounding the incident. What Crocker was talking about was actually Court-Martialing _her,_ to put her on trial as the one responsible for the loss of life and hardware. She could feel her career quietly swirl down the drain.

“Sir?”

“Captain Lalonde, as the CO you are held responsible for the circumstances surrounding the investigation of the disappearance of Republic Destroyer ‘Gamma Hormesis.’ The resulting loss of the ‘Moquant Loup’ and her crew is unacceptable.”

He opened his mouth to say more but sharp rap on the door cut him off. Crocker frowned and set down the forms he had been in the midst of filling out. “Come in.”

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

Crocker rose to his feet and saluted. Rose turned and did the same. 

Admiral Calvin Scratch let himself in, casually waving away their salutes. “At ease, Rear Admiral. And you, Captain…Lalonde, wasn’t it?”

Rose nodded quickly and forced herself to stand at ease. “Yes sir.” Her neck-jack itched terribly. “Captain Rose Lalonde of the RSS Peacekeeper ‘Sounds of Solitude.’” She paused, and then amended, “or I was, Sir. I’m afraid my position is subject to change at the moment.” 

“Oh? Is that so?” He tilted his head. “Crocker, what is this all about?” Rose had no doubt he knew exactly who she was and what this was all about.

The Rear Admiral pursed his lips, making an effort to keep the exasperation from his voice. “The Gamma Hormesis Incident…Sir. You remember, I sent a memo. The Imperial freighter ‘Servus Brachyura’ was involved? Captain Lalonde was supposed to investigate the distress signal, and the incident culminated in the loss of the ‘Moquant Loup?’” He peeled another nicotine patch, plastering it with the other two clinging to his neck. Rose wondered how many he could stick on before he started feeling the effects of nicotine poisoning. 

“Ah, yes, that. I remember skimming it. Something about how the freighter attacked, unprovoked, crippling an Inquisitor.” She could almost see the frustration building under Crocker’s collar. She surreptitiously stepped off to the side.

“It’s quite unfortunate, but these things tend to happen when dealing with rogue elements and terrorists. But what I don’t rightly understand is why _Miss Lalonde_ is being punished. This Vantas fellow seems to be the criminal here. Captain, I trust that you did everything in your power to avoid this incident?” 

“Yes Sir.” This was unbelievable. She’d met Scratch once, in passing, as she graduated from the Academy. He’d shook her hand then, but she doubted he would have even remember her. Yet here he was, single handily saving her job.

Admiral Scratch lifted his hands helplessly, a subtle smile crossing his lips. “Well, what else is there? A hostile force, acting with malicious intent, managed to out-maneuver a lone, unsuspecting Republic officer through use of superior technology and unprovoked aggression. I think this entire incident is rather cut-and-dry, don’t you, Crocker?”

The Rear Admiral, to his credit, had managed to keep from further damaging his desk so far. Now his fingernails were pressing into the wood and leaving a neat row of crescent-shaped dents along the edge. “Admiral, I would like to advise that it would be highly inappropriate to allow Captain Lalonde to walk away from this incident without any repercussions, especially considering the vulgar number of personnel lost as a direct result of her actions – ”

“And I agree! Captain?” Admiral Scratch turned to the young Captain who had managed to scoot out from under the spotlight. “Rear Admiral Crocker raises a valid point. It _would_ be highly inappropriate to allow you to leave this incident unscathed. I believe that, as the most senior officer in the room, it is my duty to dole out the punishment? Hold out your hand.”

Rose hesitated, then slowly raising her palm. Scratch surveyed the appendage for a moment and then, much to both her and Crocker’s surprise, administered a sharp slap on the wrist. 

“There we are. Captain’s Mast. A bit old fashion, but it gets the job done. Now, if we’re all done here, I was hoping that Captain Lalonde could meet me in my office to discuss a rather urgent matter. Crocker, I trust that you can take care of the paperwork and we can put this whole incident behind us?” Crocker looked furious, and his poor desk was bearing the brunt of his fury.

“Yes. Sir.”

Rose could hardly believe it. She had, quite literally, gotten off with a slap on the wrist. Scratch was already movie, and she followed him out of the office before Crocker could articulate a more volatile response. She took care to keep the door from slamming behind her. 

It was only once they were outside did she slip her dangling neck-jack back in, shivering as Kanaya slipped into her consciousness once more.

Missed you.

You Are Too Sweet Thank The Admiral For Me Please

She cleared her throat. “Muse Maryam would like to thank you. As would I. Sir.”

Admiral Scratch waved his hand, not bothering to turn around. “I’m sure you’ll think of some way to repay me. Crocker was very…attached, to Captain Egbert. I’m not at all surprised that he tried to crucify you.”

Rose followed Scratch down the hallway, passing by other Naval Staff looking too hurried or angry to spare a word. They boarded the nearest elevator in silence, where Admiral Scratch stared pointedly at the only other occupant until he decided to disembark. 

It was only once the intern scurried off the elevator and the doors slid shut did he continue. “You were close to Jonathan in Basic, weren’t you Captain?”

Rose’s eyes widened slightly. “We were friends, sir.”

He pursed his lips as if to prevent a smile. “I meant friends, Captain. Rest assured, your romantic life isn’t under scrutiny here. No, I’m simply curious as to whether he told you about his family.” The elevator dinged as they descended into the lower levels.

Rose frowned, unsure of where this was going. “John Egbert was an only child. Parents divorced, grew up with his father and grandmother. Father was in the Navy, which encouraged him to join right out of college. Mother is…deceased, I think.” 

Admiral Scratch nodded. “Crocker.”

“Excuse me, Sir?”

“Crocker is his father. Or was, at least.”

Unease settled in her gut, and the elevator music did little to relieve it. The Rear Admiral thought she had gotten his only son killed.

They spent the rest of the elevator ride in silence.

“Sir.” Dave Strider jumped to attention when they entered Scratch’s office. He’d been standing by the wall, poking at one of the text books jammed tightly in the book case. “You wanted to see me?”

“Yes, thank you for getting here so soon.” He slipped behind the desk and settled in with a groan, joints popping as he came to a rest. “Please, have a seat. Oh, and no need to unplug.”

Rose and Dave sat down in the padded chairs across from Scratch. Very few of the older officers in Naval command approved of the Muse/Mun pairings, and nearly all found it unsettling to speak with Captains who had two consciousness’s stemming from one body. Still, the tactical advantage of officers intimately integrated into their ships was too great to ignore, especially for behemoths so large that the logistics were impossible to manage otherwise. Kanaya wirelessly shimmered into existence above the holoprojecter mounted in Scratch’s desk once they came in range. Dave’s Muse followed shortly after.

The desiccated corpse that came into being above the holoprojector, with all the hard angles and sharp points, was Terezi Pyrope. 

Where Kanaya was smooth and rounded and decked in a simple white toga, Terezi was polygons and bones and naked. A severed noose hung about her bruised neck, and it flopped about in the non-existent gravity. Her projection leaned casually on Kanaya’s virtual shoulder, her shark-toothed maw swinging uncomfortably close to her pale neck before coming up for a ghastly smile. Kanaya, to her credit, didn’t react. 

“Ah, yes, I’d heard about Miss Pyrope,” Scratch mused, leaning back in his chair. “A rather…unusual avatar. Some might even go as far as to say ‘disturbing,’ but I think ‘interesting’ is a more fitting term.” He paused for a moment to study Terezi’s avatar and she spun in place, the jagged lightning bolt that substituted her eyes seeming to stare right back. A tense moment passed as they studied one another.

“It’s not polite to stare, Tez,” Dave chastised outloud. His Muse crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. A wordless exchange passed through them and she relented.

Admiral Scratch switched his attention to Kanaya, her head bowed in a respectful silence. “Always a pleasure, Miss Maryam. I hope you didn’t have to spend too long departed from Miss Lalonde. From what I understand, the separation is hard enough when she’s trying to sleep.”

“We Were Only Departed For No More Than A Few Minutes. We Have Yet To Integrate To The Point Where Such A Short Time Can Cause Separation Anxiety.” It was the truth, but barely. Rose still tossed and turned at night whenever she had to unplug to go to sleep. It always felt like part of her was missing, but it wasn’t healthy to let a Muse watch her Mun dream. Scratch nodded knowingly, then steepled his fingers and turned back to the humans. 

“A little less than a week ago, the two of you came in contact with the interstellar terrorist known as Karkat Vantas. He, through violence and unprompted aggression, managed to murder several hundred of our finest Naval crewmen, as well as our late John Egbert. Captain Vantas then fled the scene, and due to the astonishing fact that he had somehow managed to cripple the Moquant Loup with a weaponized warp-drive system, we were unable to trace him towards his new destination. Is that correct, Captain Strider?” Dave nodded, his red eyes glancing over at the shark-toothed Muse watching his every move. Rose closed her eyes, inwardly groaning. _That_ was why nothing had shown up on the weapons scan.

“The warp-drive weapon left two overlapping scars, which he used to mask his jump. He could be anywhere by now,” Dave reported. The drive systems that starcraft used left gaping wounds in the fabric of space whenever they warped. The wounds healed over eventually, and after a few years the scars would fade away to nothing. It was possible to follow someone by tracing the wound, but if too many overlapped it would become impossible to dissect. It was one of the first tricks the humans had to learn the hard way once the war started.

“Or he could be on Beforus,” Admiral Scratch countered. “News just came through that less than a week ago a crippled freighter warped into orbit above Beforus. No ID, didn’t dock at one of the OrbSat’s for repairs, just dropped down through the atmosphere.”

“And they didn’t find that the least bit suspicious? This happened a week ago, why are we just now getting word?” Dave leaned forward, something hungry and predatory curling through his lean frame.

“Beforus does things a bit…differently, than the rest of the neo-colonial planets. They documented the incident, but seeing as how the freighter didn’t have chocolate or edrilithol dribbling out of it, they didn’t bother to report it. Our security teams have enough to deal with without investigating every Grub Sled that drags its shattered hull into orbit, and they’re all horribly corrupt to begin with.” Admiral Scratch steepled his fingers. “I do not want Vantas to slip away a second time. I want you two in orbit within the hour. I already have the Solitude and Excellence stocked and ready for your command. You should find everything you need to locate and bring in Vantas.”

Alarm gnawed at Rose’s stomach. This briefing left a lot to be desired. “Sir, that’s not very much time. And if you don’t mind me asking, why us? And what exactly is going on?”

Scratch held his palms out and open in a nonthreatening manner. “You’re acutely aware of how dangerous this terrorist is, aren’t you Captain? I trust that the two of you won’t underestimate him a second time, and I need people I can trust on this.” He smiled, tilting his head to the side. “You do trust me, don’t you, Captain?”

He Did Save You From Crocker 

True. But this doesn’t quite add up. 

“I trust you, Admiral, it’s just that this seems a little odd – ”

“Lalonde, I assure you that there is absolutely nothing you need concern yourself with. If you believe yourself inadequate to perform your duties as a Captain, I can always hand you back over to Crocker. I have little doubt he will find a way to relieve you of your duty.” He kept his smile, but his eyes had taken on a bit of steel. “Circumstances surrounding Vantas and the Gamma are on a need-to-know basis, and I am quite sure you do not need to know in order to apprehend him. I went through quite a bit to make sure your little skirmish didn’t appear on the news, so you will understand if I try to keep this as low-key as possible. Unless I’m disappointed a second time, I’m quite certain that you and Captain Strider will not be involved past handing Vantas and the Brachyura over to me. Am I clear?”

The startling change in tone left an uncomfortable silence hanging in the air.

“Crystal, Sir.”

The tail end of the briefing was short. Scratch uploaded the mission Specs to Kanaya and Terezi once they left his office, and Rose felt goosebumps run up her arms as the information flooded her consciousness. A fair amount of it was blacked out. Rose and Dave left the NSCH complex together, riding the elevator to the surface and stepping into the harsh daylight. Rose blinked as the UV rays assaulted her eyes and briefly considered ducking back into the Navy-Space Command Headquarters until she adjusted, but forced herself onward regardless.

“So, I guess this is the part where we catch up again, huh?” Dave unfolded a pair of shades, slipping them on to protect his sensitive red eyes, a side-effect of growing up on Lohac. Neither of them said it, but the topic of ‘John’ hung heavily in the air.

“It’s been a while,” she agreed quietly. “I’d heard you’d been partnered with Terezi.” Dave shifted uncomfortably at that. 

“They decided I was the only one who could handle her.” He paused and furrowed his brow, as if debating something with his Muse. “She says that Kanaya was nice.”

I Doubt It

“Kanaya enjoyed her company too,” Rose lied back. An awkward silence fell between them as they made their way to the shuttle yard. Surface-to-LEO shuttles had become obsolete ever since the space elevator came into service, but they were still kept in use for priority ascensions. 

“So. John.”

 _There_ it was.

“John.” Rose answered him softly, thinking back to what Crocker had said. “I’m sorry.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Dave muttered with a wave. “Fucking Grubs.”

 _Those fucking Grubs._ What was it Crocker had said before? ‘War hero?’

“What happened to John?” The words tumbled out of her mouth before she could catch them. Dave raised an eyebrow.

“He died, Rose.” 

“No, I mean, what happened? Before? He was…changed.” A look of understanding illuminated Dave’s face before it hardened again.

“War changes people, Rose.” He looked up as if expecting the Trolls to drop right out of the sky, like they did when the conflict first started. Rose looked up with him.

“Crocker called him a war hero.” 

Dave glanced over. “Well, yeah. Most people do, after what happened over Shade.”

“What?”

She was met with a look of incredulity. “You do know what happened to Shade, don’t you?”

“Of course but – ” Realization broke over her. “No. Not John?”

Dave nodded. “The one and only.”

“He was in charge? That was – it was _masterful!_ Three thousand to one odds, some of the things he did weren’t even in the _manual,_ they’re _still_ analyzing the data from that encounter!” She was shocked. She knew John was smarter than most people gave him credit for, but she never would have thought… “He’s a hero, Dave!”

Dave sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Yeah, Rose. A real hero. A real, dead, human hero.” Dave turned his eyes skywards once more.

* * *

“Get out of my fucking chair.” Karkat pushed the seat forward, attempting to dislodge the interloper. Jade snuffled angrily, dropping her nutrient sack on her chest and clinging to the arm rests.

“It’s not your chair, it’s the ships chair! And I have just as much right to sit here as you do.” The seat tipped back and its springs protested angrily to the unusual exercise.

“Okay, first of all, this is my ship. Ergo, this is my chair. Second of all, you’re not even sitting in it right.” He leaned over the headrest, glaring down at the gangly girl slumped in the decrepit cushions. She glared back, clutching her dinner. “And THIRD of all, this is a CAPTAINS chair; you are not a captain nor are you sitting in it with the dignity deserving of the station. Now get up.”

She pouted, puckered lips questing for the nipple jutting out of her liquefied dinner. She took a sullen sip and stuck out her tongue. “ _Sollux_ says I can sit here all I want. He says I’m better company than you are.” Lights on the dashboard lit up in agreement, but he didn’t bother reading the displays.

“ _Captor_ is a series of ones and zeros inhabiting my ships mainframe by my good graces alone. _Captor_ should remember that the only reason I haven’t shot the two of you out the airlock is because he’s an abstract being who is physically impossible to interact with and you would probably get caught on the hull somehow and leave traces of concentrated ‘annoying’ that the Republic could trace through the whole fucking galaxy like a god damn trail of candy corn!”

He took a moment to breath and narrowed his eyes.

“Now get out of my fucking chair so I can talk to him.”

Jade sighed and rolled her eyes. Karkats threats were lost on her, but she rose to her bare feet regardless. “You don’t have to be such a bully about it. ‘Please’ works too, you know.” He ignored her and settled into the chair, unwinding a cable from the headrest and feeding the plug into the jack behind his ear. For a human, Jade somehow managed to tolerate him better than most Trolls did, but after nearly a relative week of close-quarters she was starting to grate on him. A chill ran up his spine as a foreign conscience intruded on his own.

be niice to jade diip2hiit

how bad

that’2 pretty bad

NO SHIT. I TOLD YOU TO BE CAREFUL WITH HER. SHE’S AN ANTIQUE.

you were gonna get u2 kiilled by tryiing to run from a republiic war2hiip. ii diid what ii had 2 iit2 not my fault your engiine2 are a piiece of crap.

YOU FUCKING FRIED THEM, ASSHOLE. WE’RE LUCKY WE COULD JUMP AT ALL. I DON’T CARE SPARE INERTIA DAMPENERS BECAUSE I NEVER BLUE-BALL THEM LIKE THAT.

oh my god kk ii don’t need to hear about you gettiing your 2hiip off ii just need to know iif we can fiix iit. iim gonna gue22 the an2wer ii2 no

THE ANSWER IS NO.

alriight alriight that2 okay we wiill ju2t have to piick up a new one when we arrive ii know thii2 guy who own2 a 2crap yard on the ea2tern hemii2phere

I NEED MONEY TO BUY THINGS, IDIOT.

yeah 2o ju2t draw from your 2aviing2 account iim 2ure the empre22 wiill pay you back

I DON’T HAVE A FUCKING SAVINGS ACCOUNT, I’M BROKE. 

what

I DON’T HAVE ANY FUCKING MONEY. WHAT’S MORE IS THAT I DON’T HAVE ANY FUCKING MERCHANDISE BECAUSE YOUR PLAN INVOLVED SHOOTING IT ALL AT THE ENEMY.

hey that wa2n’t my fault. ii totally thought iit would have at lea2t 2kiiped the hull before falliing back iinto realiity. how wa2 ii 2uppo2ed to know iit’d 2uck all your merch iinto the vacuum? we ju2t got unlucky

YEAH, WELL NOW MY SHIP HAS A NEW HOLE TO LET THE STARLIGHT IN.

well ii gue22 the an2wer ii2 2iimple then. we 2ell the brachyura and use the crediit2 to hiire a real 2muggler to liift u2 back to alterniia

WHAT. NO. NO WE ARE NOT SELLING THE BRACHYURA THAT’S A DUMB IDEA.

omfg the empre22 wiill fuckiing BUY YOU a new god damn 2hiip. probably one that doe2nt 2hatter iinto a miilliion piiece2 every tiime you get a liittle 2 rough wiith iit

A LITTLE TOO ROU- YOU FUCKING SHOOK HER AROUND LIKE AN ABUSIVE LUSUS! WHAT YOU DID WOULD HAVE WRIGGLER SERVICES POUNDING DOWN THE DOOR TO HAVE THE CRIPPLED CHILD CULLED, SHIT-PUPPET. AND EVEN IF I DID SELL HER, NO ONE OUTSIDE OF A SCRAP YARD IS GOING TO BUY AN ANTIQUE FREIGHTER WITH OVER-STRESSED INERTIA DAMPENERS AND A GAPING NEW ANUS RIPPED INTO THE STORAGE BAY. AND ASSUMING WE DID FIND SOMEONE WITH ENOUGH FREE TIME TO TEAR HER APART FOR SCRAP, IT WOULDN’T EVEN BE ENOUGH CASH TO AFFORD A JUMP JOCKEY. 

well then what about the guy

WHAT ABOUT THE GUY.

well he’2 republiic and we’re goiing to beforu2 come on do ii have to 2pell iit out

YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS.

He looked over his shoulder to sneak a glance at Jade. She was leaning against the entrance to the cockpit, focused on sucking the last bit of food out of her crumpled nutrient sack. She returned an inquisitive glance, raising her eyebrows as if to ask whether he was done silently arguing with the AI.

SHE’S NOT GOING TO LIKE THAT.

2o what do you care you hate her 

I DON’T WANT TO DEAL WITH HER BITCHING INTO MY EAR ABOUT SELLING ANOTHER HUMAN TO THE DISSENTION TO GET BUTCHERED OR WHATEVER IT IS THEY DO.

omg kk that’2 2uch a load of 2hiit they won’t kiill hiim he’2 a captaiin wor2t thiing they’ll do ii2 torture hiim a biit he’ll be fiine

OH SURE, THAT’S EASY FOR YOU TO SAY. SHE DOESN’T HAVE A JACK, SHE CAN’T TALK TO YOU. I’M THE ONE WHO’S GOING TO HAVE TO TELL HER THAT WE SOLD HER PRIMORDIAL COUSIN TO TERRORISTS FOR CHUMP CHANGE.

what 2he doe2n’t know won’t hurt her

It was a lie, of course. She’d wonder where Egbert had wandered off to once they landed, and it wouldn’t take her long to put two and two together. She was smart, for a human.

Karkat cast another furtive glance and caught sight of her hollowing out her cheeks in a desperate bid to salvage the last speck of food from the sack.

we can’t keep hiim anyway2 iit’d be too much trouble what would we do 2et hiim free on the 2treet2? uh-uh he’d give u2 away iin a heartbeat look at iit thii2 way he get2 to keep liiviing and we get a riide home the empiire haiil2 u2 a2 hero2 jade get2 an adventure everyone wiin2 2ure egbert may lo2e a few iiq poiint2 but no plan’2 perfect

I GET IT, SHUT THE HELL UP. LOOK, WE’VE STILL GOT NEARLY A WHOLE RELATIVE DAY LEFT BEFORE WE DROP BACK INTO REALITY. I’LL THINK ABOUT IT.

He ground a grubby fist in his eyes, working away the perpetual sleeplessness that hung beneath them like dark hammocks.

I’M GONNA GO TO TOSS HIM A NUTRITION SACK. WHEN WE DROP SEE WHO YOU CAN GET A HOLD OF. AND TRY TO COME UP WITH A PLAN BETTER THAN “SELL THE SHIP” OR “SELL THE HUMAN.”

aye aye captaiin

Karkat yanked the jack free. It felt like cold water dribbling out the back of his skull.

“What was that all about?” He looked up to see Jade watching him rub the metal ring anchored in his skull. Her hand drifted down unconsciously to pat her satchel and reaffirm its existence, despite the fact that it hadn’t left her person since he met her. Karkat briefly wondered if she showered with it, too.

He waited a moment before answering, winding the cable around the hooks jutting from the chair. After stalling a few seconds he answered carefully. “An important part of our engines are shot. Once we drop back into reality we won’t be able to enter warpspace again unless we get a new piece. But we can’t get a new piece because we don’t have any money.”

Jade quickly reestablished her place in the chair, snuggling into the split and worn cushions before the body heat faded away. She dropped the empty nutrition sack on the floor and kicked it under the dash with the other dozen or so she’d left littered around. 

“Well, why don’t we just call your friends? Don’t they have embassies on Beforus? If we told them they’d just pick us up and take care of everything, right?” She reached out a toe and pressed against the corner of the dashboard, spinning the chair around to face the retreating Karkat. He stopped and frowned.

“Oh, that’s right, I keep forgetting that you grew up in the middle of Bum-Fuck Nowhere. One, ever since the war, Imperial instillations on conflict planets have been staffed and funded by the Republic. Two, all Imperial communications are monitored by the Republic, and the second they hear the slightest hint of where we are they’ll snatch us. And three, because I want to shove that fucking thing in Empress Piexes hands in person and tell her to go fuck her two-by-three-dent until she squirts blood out her grime-caked seed flap. THAT is why we are delivering it personally.” 

Jade wrinkled her nose at the imagery. “Ew, grooooss! Karkat, you’re gross.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. Yeah, she was grating on him. “Whatever. Have Sollux teach you the next part of your lesson while I go feed the human.”

Jade groaned, lolling over the edge of the chair and nearly touching the floor. “Trollian is so boooring though! Who even uses squiggles like that to write? And why backwards?! Why can’t all aliens read and write in Basic?” She rested her chin on the armrest and pouted.

“Well, I _am_ speaking Basic, yet obviously we aren’t communicating. Maybe that means something, fuckwit. Now stop sulking and stop insulting my culture, if we’ve got to be awake for this trip you can at least learn the basics of Trollian. Besides, it might come in handy.” He left before she could continue bemoaning the learning experience. She’d actually gotten pretty good at it; it surprised him how fast she learned. Still, the next chance he got he was going to find a place to ditch her. He didn’t run a day-care center.

The rest of his ship was quiet, save for the soft hum of electronics packed behind the walls and the hiss of ventilation. The improvised warp-drive missile he’d shot at the Inquisitor had done more damage to his ship than he thought it would. The drive had flickered out of reality for only a second before returning. Since relative time scaled with the size of the vessel entering warp-space, the tiny drive had escaped reality for longer than the amount of time that had it had actually experienced. The result was a kinetic bullet that blasted through the Brachyura’s hull and into the Loup, tearing apart with it most of the floor it’d been sitting on as well as shredding the cryo-bay a whole deck-level below. Karkat hated ice-naps, but at this point he’d take twenty back-to-back if it meant he didn’t have to deal with the human girl any longer.

He stopped by the cafeteria to fill up a couple nutrient sacks before going down to the crew quarters, temporarily serving as the brig. The door to the humans cell wasn’t actually designed to be locked, but he had developed a crude bolt-and-lock mechanism by cutting a few holes in the steel and using a bit of scrap metal. He set the humans dinner on the floor and knocked. 

He peeked through a few holes he had drilled through the door, making sure the human had pressed himself up against the far wall. They’d developed a system over the past few days, and he’d only had to spend three or four stun-rounds to keep him in line. He pulled the stolen handgun out of his waistband and thumbed the safety, shifting it in his hands to get it to sit right. Once satisfied the human was an appropriate distance from the door, he popped the bolt and eased it open.

“Your nose is healing up nicely.” The human grinned as Karkat entered the room.

“Yours still looks like shit,” he grunted back. The prisoner let the comment slide.

“What’s it today, chef?” John was sitting on the bunk, his back pressed into the farthest corner of the room. “Bouillabaisse? Beef Wellington? Pop-tarts?”

“Imitation grubloaf,” Karkat growled, sliding the sacks into the room with his foot. John groaned.

“Again? Haven’t you Grubs ever heard of variety?” Regardless of his prior protests, he leaned over the edge of the bed to scoop up one that had rolled close enough. He made a face, then wrapped his lips around the nipple.

“I swear to god, Human, if you call me a Grub one more time I’ll put a round right through your fucking teeth.” Karkat tightened his grip on the handgun. Jade may have been grating, but this one made his blood boil in a way he hadn’t felt in years. “It doesn’t even make any sense. We eat grubs, it’s like if we started calling you Nutrient-Paste or something equally stupid.” 

John shrugged, eyeing the gun. He parted his lips from his dinner to answer. “We’ve all seen holovids. You Trolls look like maggot-worms when you’re born. ‘Fucking gross.” He bobbed his head towards the bucket in the corner. “Speaking of gross, I’m getting pretty tired of shitting into a god-damn bucket. You sure you can’t fit a toilet in here?”

Karkat wrinkled his nose. At least the Human had the presence of mind to put a lid over it when it wasn’t in use. “That’ll do for now. And I’m not giving you access to the plumbing, you’d find a way to blow it up or something.”

John half-laughed half-gagged at the thought of every black-water pipe in the ship bursting all at once. He wiped his mouth with the back of one hand, making a mental note not to think of gallons of Troll crap while sucking paste out of a bag. “What’s the deal with the bucket, then? I thought they were sacred to you guys. I’m not insulting your ancestors by taking a dump in one, am I?”

Karkat curled his lip at the Humans ignorance. “I’m not going to explain this shit to you, but we realize that there are practical applications to buckets besides what we primarily use them for, spongefuck. We’re almost there anyways, so quit bitching.” 

John perked up, casting a side-ways glance at the Troll. “Where, exactly?”

“None of your business. You’ll find out soon enough.” Karkat went to shut the door.

“Why, exactly, are you the one bringing me food?” That question stopped him. He glanced back at the human, watching him curiously from the bunk.

“Because you’d starve to death and your corpse would stink up my ship otherwise. Bye.”

“No, wait! I mean, why you? Why not one of the crew? You’re the captain, right? Why haven’t I heard or seen anyone else? I’ve been trying to figure it out, but it’s not making any sense.” Something glinted in Johns eye and Karkat clenched his jaw shut. He didn’t like where this was going.

“A captain feeding the prisoner? Bringing him a new bucket every couple of days, a ship entirely silent except for him and a little girl? Where’s your crew, Vantas?” John set his half-finished nutrient sack on the bed, bracing his hands against his knees.

“Sit back down.” His gut twisted nervously. He could practically see the gears turning in Johns head.

“I was thinking about it, and it doesn’t make any sense unless you don’t actually have a crew…but then how could you operate an entire freighter by yourself? That doesn’t add up!” 

“Sit down, Human.” Karkat growled, panic clawing at the lining of his stomach. 

“The only way you could run this hulk of junk is if you had an AI or a Muse…but you’re just a freighter captain, why would you have one of those?” John stood, making sure to keep his hands in plain sight. Whatever he was saying, it was certainly something that the Troll didn’t want him to know.

“Sit **down,** Human.” Karkat leveled the gun at John, frustration and panic digging into his nerves.

“We’ve been in warp for, what? Five? Six relative days? For a freighter this big we can’t have gone far. It’s not like you can wander too close to a star in this piece of junk or we’d get pulled out. Where are we going? One of the Old Colonies?” John narrowed his eyes, keeping them fixed on the gun clenched in Karkat’s too-large hand as he subtly shuffled forward.

“Sit _**down,**_ Human.” Karkats arm was shaking. This human was smart. Too smart.

“What could possibly be so important that you’d run from Republic Peace Keepers? You can’t be a Dissident, otherwise you’d have killed the girl by now.” He paused, snapping another puzzle piece into place.

“That girl.” A grin lit up John’s face. “Who is she? What’s she doing on board, Vantas?” He paused, feeling every muscle in his body tense. He was so close he could taste it. The gun wasn’t more than five feet away, clenched in the Troll’s trembling fist. He mentally coiled, ready to spring forward and snatch it from his hand. “Why did she defend you, Grub? What sort of sick brain washing did you have to do to – ”

John never got to finish before the stunround ripped into his chest. 

The gun trembled in Karkat’s hand from a mixture of panic and fury. The human coughed, gasping for breath as Karkat ducked out of the room and bolted the door. That had been close. Too close.

He didn’t waste any time getting back to the cockpit. The hallways, which once provided a sense of security and comfort, now closed on him in a claustrophobia-inducing panic. He needed to see the stars. Even though they were in warp and he wouldn’t see anything more than a blur of meaningless color, he needed to look out the viewport and assure himself that the universe hadn’t shrunk down to this hundred meter-long ship. As he neared the entrance to the cockpit he realized he was still clutching the gun, and he hastily tucked it away before reentering. 

“Hey Karkat, is it ‘al-SEEL dileck,’ or ‘al-SILL dileck?’” Jade was hunched over one of the view screens, playing one of the word-games that Sollux had constructed for her. She hadn’t heard any of the commotion, apparently.

“Alsiel, with the ‘ee’ sound,” he mumbled, hungrily drinking in the horizontal streaks passing by the cockpit. He leaned against the chair, trying to dispel the shaking that had entered his fingers. Jade paused, glancing at his hands before looking up at him.

“Are you alright?” He waved her away.

“I’m fine. Just. Panic attack. It hits me some times.” He didn’t bother to explain that it’d become more and more common ever since the Genocide. Jade frowned and opened her mouth to say something when the view screen bleeped. She looked back, growling and thumping the dashboard with her palm.

“Oh, come on Sollux! Give me the points for that, I got it right!...No, it doesn’t matter that Karkat told me the answer, I still got it right, I deserve the points!” As she bickered with Sollux over the semantics of the game, Karkat focused on breathing, the first tendrils of a plan starting to coalesce in his mind’s eye.

“Hey, Jade, why don’t you take a break?” He blurted it out suddenly, interrupting her game. “I need to talk to Sollux about something.”

She made a small whining noise, poking at the screen. “Aw, come on! I was just about to kick his butt! I only need two more and he has to admit that I’m Queen Harley and he’s my semi-loyal jester! I was going to make him dance for my amusement, Karkat!”

“It’ll only take a moment then you can get right back at it.” He tipped the chair forward, spilling Jade out. She landed on her feet and sulked, but got out of the way nevertheless. Sollux entered his brain seething with indignation.

2he’2 lyiing! ii never agreed 2 be her jester and even iif ii diid 2he can’t make me

LET’S DO IT.

He settled in the chair, feeling fifty sweeps older than he really was. Non-reality cruised by outside in a whirlwind of miss-matched color.

do what, exactly?

LET’S DO IT. LET’S SELL THE HUMAN.

**Author's Note:**

> There are a number of elements and details ~~blatantly stolen from~~ inspired by numerous other universes, such as The Orphan series, Gremline, Firefly, Ender's Game, Dune, I Robot, Hitchhikers Guide, Halo, Starwars, Startrek, The Matrix, Terminator, Prometheus, a healthy portion of my own imagination and at least a dozen other sources that I don't remember off the top of my head and I feel as though after a certain point it becomes less of a cross-over and more of an AU. 
> 
> So, thank you for reading I guess.


End file.
